NASAPink clouds at daybreak Tuesday provide a stunning backdrop for the Ares I-X rocket, but help bring a frustrating end to the countdown later in the morning.Kennedy Space Center, Fla. -- For a rocket that never left the ground, Ares I-X gave its handlers a tumultuous ride Tuesday. First there was the stuck sock, then the stray ship. And throughout the morning, as controllers tried again and again to launch the experimental rocket on its maiden voyage, there were the winds and the clouds. Lots and lots of clouds.

Mission managers came within 2 minutes and 38 seconds of sending Ares aloft, but eventually had to postpone the flight until Wednesday after a series of delays, most of them due to weather, caused them to run out of time. The NASA engineers' hopes rose and fell with each restart and stop of the countdown clock.

NASAJames Free"It was certainly a lot of ups and downs," said James Free, director of space flight systems at Cleveland's NASA Glenn Research Center, where the rocket's upper stage was designed and built. "There were some things that delayed the team as they tried to carefully step through them, which is the right way to do it."

Two of the more unusual issues had nothing to do with the new rocket's electronics and and other systems, which appeared to perform flawlessly. It was the little things that caused nagging delays and pushed the flight right to the end of its noon launch window.

View full sizeOne was the fabric cover that protects a sensor on the uppermost tip of the rocket, 27 stories above ground. The cover, which looks like a long red knee sock, keeps rain water from collecting in the probe's open ports. Any water there could freeze as Ares I-X streaks into the upper atmosphere, possibly interfering with the instrument's sensing ability.

Controllers don't order the cover's removal until they're fairly certain of a launch, since it's impossible to re-cover the probe during a countdown. When the call came to take it off yesterday, a technician tugged on a cord and got it partially loose, but it hung up at the bottom of the rocket's mast and stayed there for agonizing minutes while engineers debated whether it was OK to leave it dangling like a loose thread on a sweater. A final jerk successfully freed the sock, prompting applause in the launch control room.

View full sizeThen came a report that a cargo ship had strayed into the "no-go zone," the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast where the rocket's first and upper stages were expected to splash down. The countdown held again until the errant ship could be shooed away. Such incusions during launches are fairly common, even though warnings are broadcast on maritime radio and posted on the Internet.

All the while Tuesday morning, controllers were struggling to find a break in the high-level clouds around 25,000 feet above the launch pad, and a lull in the winds that kicked up on the ground and far overhead in the rocket's flight path.

The winds could potentially exert too much stress, or loading, on the unusually tall and slender Ares I-X. The clouds posed a risk of static electricity buildup as the streaking rocket rubbed against raindrops, dust or ice during its ascent. The halo of "P-static" (for precipitation) around the rocket's metal skin could disrupt communications between Ares I-X and ground controllers, possibly even blocking a destruct signal if the rocket suddenly veered off course.

Weather officer Kathy Winters kept in minute-by-minute touch with jet pilots circling the launch area, and monitored the reports coming in from weather balloons that soared into the deceptively blue sky. Each time that the launch director quizzed team members about the readiness of various launch conditions, Winters had to report a "red" for winds or P-static-causing clouds.

The countdown was finally halted around 11:30 a.m. EDT. "We gave it a great shot," launch director Ed Mango told the team. "We just couldn't get there with the weather."

"Things were pretty exciting. It was kind of a roller coaster of emotions," said a weary Vince Bilardo, the NASA Glenn engineer who managed the upper stage assembly and who had been in a backup launch control room with other personnel since 1 a.m. Tuesday to help resolve any technical issues during the countdown.

NASAVince BilardoAs the clock ticks toward zero, "you get to a point right on the edge of your seat and the room gets real quiet," Bilardo said. "Then, boom, you have to abort."

It's a ride that controllers will take again beginning at 8 a.m. EDt Wednesday as they try once more to launch Ares I-X. Forecasters say there's a 60 percent chance the weather will cooperate.

Plain Dealer science writer John Mangels will provide live blogging coverage of Wednesday's launch attempt. Follow along at www.cleveland.com/science

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